Spike in violent offenders being monitored after release
The number of violent offenders released from prison but too dangerous to live in the community without being monitored has soared.
Police & Courts
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The number of murderers and thugs being monitored by the state government after their release from jail, because they are feared a high risk of reoffending, has more than doubled in just 12 months.
The latest annual report from the Post Sentence Authority revealed the number of serious violent offenders released from prison but considered too dangerous to live in the community without being monitored, has risen from five to 14 last financial year.
These offenders are considered to be at high risk of reoffending.
It comes as one former prisoner was also detained — a Victorian first — after his behaviour escalated to the point where his minders feared he was an imminent threat.
Laws introduced in Victoria in 2018 allowed the state to begin monitoring the worst of the worst after release, a system prompted by the brutal death of 17-year-old Masa Vukotic, who was stabbed to death by former prisoner Sean Price in a Doncaster park.
Her case was one of several included in the Harper Review that identified some offenders were simply too dangerous to release into the community unmonitored.
The report warned that with the increasing numbers, finding accommodation was a “challenge”, which complicated keeping the offenders under watch.
Serious sexual offenders are kept at Corella Place near Ararat, but a facility for violent offenders is yet to be established.
Deputy chair Stuart Ward said “the first three to six months following release from prison can be particularly difficult and stressful for offenders who have served a long sentence, with the risk that they will gravitate back to the lifestyle and associations that contributed to their offending.
“A significant challenge facing serious violent offenders commencing a post sentence supervision order is that, unlike serious sex offenders, there is no facility for them to transition through before returning to live independently in the broader community.”
In total, 142 former prisoners were being monitored.
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